Hado-qui? —

French anti-P2P agency Hadopi likely to get shut down

New French minister of culture says Hadopi has "not fulfilled its mission."

In a new interview this week with the French magazine, Le Nouvel Observateur (French), the new French minister of culture slammed Hadopi, France’s controversial anti-piracy regime, and seemed to indicate that it will be shut down.

"I do not know what will become of [Hadopi], but one thing is clear: Hadopi has not fulfilled its mission of developing legal content offerings," Aurélie Filippetti told the magazine this week.

Filippetti recently named Pierre Lescure, the former CEO of Canal+, a major French satellite channel, as the head of a commission to look at the challenges of digital media with respect to French culture.

"Finally, the suspension of Internet access seems to be a disproportionate penalty given the intended goal. But this will all be examined by the Lescure Commission. In the meantime, with respect to budgetary efforts, I’m going to ask that Hadopi’s funds be significantly reduced for the rest of 2012. I prefer to reduce the finances of [agencies] whose utility is not proven. In September, I will announce the details of these budgetary decisions."

Hollande campaigned on ending Hadopi

Hadopi, which was set up under President Nicolas Sarkozy’s administration, has remained intact since François Hollande's new administration won in the April 2012 election. The month before Sarkozy’s departure, Hadopi released a report claiming that it had been successful in reducing French traffic on peer-to-peer networks, although France’s entertainment industry continued to see financial declines.

Hadopi is set up as an escalating three-strikes model, which would culminate in an Internet user being disconnected for a month. The French government's agency never quite got to that point, and now seems even more unlikely to get there.

During the presidential campaign this spring, Hollande had said that he wanted to replace Hadopi with something that he called "Act 2 of the Cultural Exception," a reference to a 20-year-old provision that France successfully inserted into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), allowing cultural products, such as art, music, film, and literature to be treated differently from other commercial products. Effectively, the "cultural exception" makes it legal for France to maintain its system of quotas and subsidies for its domestic cultural industry.

Now they are realizing that spending an enormous amount of taxpayers money to defend some industry interests may not be a good idea... way to go, French government!Please, don't get me wrong: I support artists and content creators, and think that they deserve monetary compensation.But this kind of agency an its heavy handed approach does not help with the real problem: teach the public to respect other people efforts and create a reasonably priced marketplace.

I'm just curious. Say for example that all piracy of all movies were to suddenly cease, also lets say that for a few year period after the piracy had ceased the studios were still loosing money. Who or what would the blame the loss on then and would they start a prolonged campaign against what ever it was?

I'm just curious. Say for example that all piracy of all movies were to suddenly cease, also lets say that for a few year period after the piracy had ceased the studios were still loosing money. Who or what would the blame the loss on then and would they start a prolonged campaign against what ever it was?

Piracy. They would still blame Piracy. Soon even Global Warming will be blamed on Piracy.

I'm just curious. Say for example that all piracy of all movies were to suddenly cease, also lets say that for a few year period after the piracy had ceased the studios were still loosing money. Who or what would the blame the loss on then and would they start a prolonged campaign against what ever it was?

I'm just curious. Say for example that all piracy of all movies were to suddenly cease, also lets say that for a few year period after the piracy had ceased the studios were still loosing money. Who or what would the blame the loss on then and would they start a prolonged campaign against what ever it was?

At that point it would be time travelling pirates, who arrived to give us all the media that will ever be made. They just did a slingshot around the sun at warp 9, serious stuff!

"Wait.. I'm confused. A government tried a heavyhanded punishment program, and it didn't work, so they might actually remove it? Is that allowed? Is anyone in the US taking notes?"

I don't think you got the reason right.A government tried a heavyhanded punishment program, and no one liked it. Now comes election time, and the opposition says : "I will end this evil program! Vote for me! I'll replace it by something else!"Given the number of people who downloads things illegally, you can be sure this is going to matter for a lot of people.

Now what will replace it, no one seems to know (especially the new government).

I am not sure if this is a win or not. Sounds like it will just be replaced with "something".

Given the seeming focus on "we reduced piracy by X amount" versus "we sent out Y emails", it doesn't seem likely that "something" will be consumer-friendly.

"I do not know what will become of [Hadopi], but one thing is clear: Hadopi has not fulfilled its mission of developing legal content offerings," Aurélie Filippetti told the magazine this week.

How does "it has not fulfilled its mission of developing legal content options" lead you think that they are focused more on reducing piracy?There's a difference between reducing piracy by going after pirates, and reducing piracy by offering legal ways to get the same content to discourage it.The implication from the quote is that they want to give people a way to get content legally, to reduce piracy.Which seems to be the consumer friendly thing to do.

The numbers are very clear, Hadopi has completely failed to have any impact on the decline of DVD sales in France, a fact that reveals the emptiness of the industry's attempts to blame piracy. Yet French DVD sales actually stabilised in 2009, well before Hadopi began operating in late 2010. Why did that happen? Because in 2009 the French regulatory window between theatrical and home video releases was shortened to 4 months, causing DVD sales to hang on while BD sales boomed.

Give the customers what they want and sales go up. Try to stick your head in the sand and blame piracy and sales will continue to decline. As much as I despise the Hadopi experiment, it's been a valuable lesson demonstrating in unequivocal terms how irrelevant piracy is to the health of the movie market.

I'm just curious. Say for example that all piracy of all movies were to suddenly cease, also lets say that for a few year period after the piracy had ceased the studios were still loosing money. Who or what would the blame the loss on then and would they start a prolonged campaign against what ever it was?

The studios are losing money?

For normal people it would be called "not making as much money as we can dream about" but media industry is a bit special.

Nice that HADOPI is going away shit that piracy is still only option in Europe for most of the stuff. While I have no ethical issues with pirating I am lazy and can't be bothered to do it (no I'm not afraid of police or bought laws).

Now they are realizing that spending an enormous amount of taxpayers money to defend some industry interests may not be a good idea... way to go, French government!Please, don't get me wrong: I support artists and content creators, and think that they deserve monetary compensation.But this kind of agency an its heavy handed approach does not help with the real problem: teach the public to respect other people efforts and create a reasonably priced marketplace.

R

I wouldn't say that 12 M€ are "an enormous amount of taxpayer money", especially given the fact that France's budget is something near 200 billion of euros per year. Though it's still something, I think they also want to shut it down because they don't believe in it and as opposition MP, they voted against it. Anyway, whatever replaces it should still use that money.

Oh and Canal+ isn't a satellite channel. It's a pay-for (now) digital TV channel (in some ways, akin to HBO) broadcast in DVB-T that anyone can receive through traditional means such as having an antenna on your roof. Of course, you can still receive it by satellite or cable or your DSL line.

I'm just curious. Say for example that all piracy of all movies were to suddenly cease, also lets say that for a few year period after the piracy had ceased the studios were still loosing money. Who or what would the blame the loss on then and would they start a prolonged campaign against what ever it was?

Piracy. They would still blame Piracy. Soon even Global Warming will be blamed on Piracy.

Ridiculous. It has been conclusively proven that global warming is a direct result of the reduction in pirate numbers.

I'm just curious. Say for example that all piracy of all movies were to suddenly cease, also lets say that for a few year period after the piracy had ceased the studios were still loosing money. Who or what would the blame the loss on then and would they start a prolonged campaign against what ever it was?

Piracy. They would still blame Piracy. Soon even Global Warming will be blamed on Piracy.

Ridiculous. It has been conclusively proven that global warming is a direct result of the reduction in pirate numbers.

The real problem is that it is still so damn hard to get to content legally in Europe, and in particular in countries like France where movies are generally dubbed - more than half of the films on the iTunes store are in French only and something like Netflix is far, far away. There's still no transeuropean licensing scheme.

It's really quite amazing that a group of states is willing to have a common currency but stay entrenched in their respective ghettos when it comes to culture.

The real problem is that it is still so damn hard to get to content legally in Europe, and in particular in countries like France where movies are generally dubbed - more than half of the films on the iTunes store are in French only and something like Netflix is far, far away.

That's indeed an issue for foreigners living in France, but unlikely to make a big difference for the mass of customers. And is it that different in the US - are most US DVDs available in multiple languages?

esterhasz wrote:

It's really quite amazing that a group of states is willing to have a common currency but stay entrenched in their respective ghettos when it comes to culture.

How is this the case? Foreign movies are widely available in Europe, in fact American movies dominate most European box offices. Simply they are often dubbed in the local languages, a move that actually helps spread culture beyond people who speak foreign languages fluently.

"Wait.. I'm confused. A government tried a heavyhanded punishment program, and it didn't work, so they might actually remove it? Is that allowed? Is anyone in the US taking notes?"

I don't think you got the reason right.A government tried a heavyhanded punishment program, and no one liked it. Now comes election time, and the opposition says : "I will end this evil program! Vote for me! I'll replace it by something else!"Given the number of people who downloads things illegally, you can be sure this is going to matter for a lot of people.

Exactly. Besides my disliking some of Sarkozy's other policies, Hollande's stance on Hadopi was a reason I voted for him.

Ormurin wrote:

Now what will replace it, no one seems to know (especially the new government).

Yes, and that's what's worrisome. Especially with the ex-head of Canal+ at the head of the commission charged with looking for the next version.

P.S. to the author: Canal+ which carries much more weight than just being a "French satellite channel" - they're also a movie production company and basically own all the premium movie channels available via cable, satellite, or triple-play ADSL. Think HBO combined with Showtime, plus a bit of one of the big three networks thrown in (since some Canal+ content is available without subscription, and they produce content for other non-premium networks). Despite being a former head, Lescure isn't going to be unbiased, and his industry ties almost certainly don't end with Canal+...

The real problem is that it is still so damn hard to get to content legally in Europe, and in particular in countries like France where movies are generally dubbed - more than half of the films on the iTunes store are in French only and something like Netflix is far, far away.

That's indeed an issue for foreigners living in France, but unlikely to make a big difference for the mass of customers. And is it that different in the US - are most US DVDs available in multiple languages?

I agree with you in part, since I don't think that's the "real problem" as esterhasz put it. Still, some of us prefer the movie in its original language, even if we don't speak it. It should at least be an option - if the movie is licensed for sale in a region, why not allow the original version to be purchased too? It certainly couldn't decrease sales of a title, and it wouldn't add any cost to the production either.

I know Paris is the exception in France, and indeed much of Europe, but most movies are screened in both VO ("original version") and VF ("French version"), so you have a choice. I prefer the original voice acting, for example in Chinese, along with subtitles. And I prefer French subtitles, because then I can see the differences in formality better in those films (but it's not like I'd have English as a subtitling choice anyway... ;-) ).

I digress, but my point is that the choice is available in the theatres, so why not in downloadable format? Paris has the highest ratio of theatres to population of any city in the world. Certainly some of that must be due to the option. And this isn't limited to the film snobs - I just saw Total Recall last night to a packed house in a big-screen room that seats a few hundred, mostly families with kids and teenagers.

EDIT: The screen I was in last night seats 446, according to this site. It was packed, but not capacity - let's say at least 350 to 400 spectators. If that many people are willing to shell out* for a single viewing in English, then maybe a choice should be offered for downloadable content?

* = the wildcard is how many have the UGC pass, a subscription which allows unlimited movies for the price of two full-price tickets per month. Still, the model must work because films are still coming in, despite the taxes that the French government places on them (to fund native productions).

Oh, and a final aside: I know more than a couple of people who hate dubbed American films in French on DVD. Apparently, many of the studios cut corners and use Canadian French speakers. I'm sure that can't be true for everything (there's certainly a lot of native dubbing companies), but since I never watch dubbed in French, I can't vouch for the quality of the dubbing.